If you have a DSLR camera, then here’s a little quick tip or little tutorial on how to take a beautiful picture of your Christmas tree this year.

Here’s how using your DSLR:

1. Wait until evening, especially if your tree is near a window. You don’t want extra light in the picture.

2. Use a lens with a low aperture setting (I used a 50mm 1.8 lens), put the camera on AV setting, and set the aperture as low as it can go. If you don’t have a low aperture lens, it’s a little harder to get this effect, but it can be done. Stand as far away from the tree as you can and zoom in until the tree (or just the top portion of the tree) fills up the entire picture. The farther your lens is zoomed, the more out of focus you’ll be able to get the picture (out of focus = bigger circles of light).

3. Compose your shot and press your shutter button halfway down to focus. Then find the little button on your lens that says AF and MF, and change it to MF, which is manual focus.

4. Find your manual focus ring and start turning it one way or the other to get the picture out of focus. As the picture gets farther and farther out of focus, the tree lights will turn into larger and larger circles. Snap a number of pictures, turning the focus ring a little more for each one. Your shutter speed is going to be quite slow, so be sure to brace yourself as you snap away. (Don’t worry about a tripod – a little camera shake isn’t going to matter much since the picture is out of focus anyway.)

Here’s how my photo turned out. Isn’t it pretty? This could be your Christmas card photo! Just add a little text to your image and voila! A beautiful photograph.

Do you too, love the look of blurry Christmas lights? (also known as bokeh)

If you don’t have a DSLR camera, then you’re in luck! Today I’m giving one away…come win it!

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